Hewlett precinct gets $50G for patrols

Police officers at the Hewlett-based Fourth Precinct will get a license plate scanner, money for overtime and devices to detect drunken drivers and illegally tinted windows, all under a $50,000 federal grant to the Nassau County police, authorities said Thursday.

The plate reader is portable -- it's discreet and window-mounted -- and will be rotated among police vehicles. The reader, which is similar to those deployed throughout the county, records all the vehicles that pass it and checks them against an assortment of criminal databases, said Chief Rick Capece, who's in charge of patrol countywide.

"We're going to have an additional plate reader in our cars that will be moved from car to car, place to place as we need it," he said. "It registers who's in the area and who's been in the area."

Assemb. Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) announced the grant at the precinct, surrounded by cops and clutching a oversize ceremonial check for $50,000.

The grant will pay for the $25,000 plate scanner, about two dozen tint readers costing about $75 apiece, at least a dozen portable alcohol breath detectors, which cost about $450 each, and overtime, police said.

Capece said tinted windows are a problem because can provide cover for nightclub patrons who sometimes take illegal drugs in their vehicles on side streets.

"They can't see if there's a criminal activity going on," Capece said.

The tint detectors let officers check whether a vehicle's windows have been illegally darkened. The law requires that 70 percent of light be able to pass through the window, said Deputy Insp. Lorna Atmore, the precinct's second-in-command. Any less visibility can subject the driver to a summons.

The jurisdiction of the Fourth Precinct precinct, whose station house is on the South Shore in western Nassau, includes the Five Towns, as well as Lido Beach, Point Lookout, Atlantic Beach, Island Park and Oceanside.